Google Pixel XL: One month later

With a month of use behind us, how is the larger of the two Pixel phones holding up?

The Google Pixel XL, the larger of the two Pixel handsets, is a great phone. In fact, we currently rank it as the best Android phone you can buy. But the real mark of a top-tier smartphone is that it stands up to months, or even years of use without skipping a beat. That's why we're going to revisit both Pixel models over the coming months, updating our impressions as we go.

I've been using the Pixel XL since October 14, and during that time it's been my daily driver, accompanying me on trips halfway across the world, as well as being by my side through more mundane everyday tasks. So it's time to reflect on my first month with the phone. Let's dig in.

Hardware, wear and tear

My Pixel XL in Quite Black has accompanied me on 10 flights across four countries over the past month, and in doing so it's picked up a few signs of wear. I should note that the phone hasn't been dropped or scuffed (that I've noticed), but still there are some early signs of use. The most visible of these are around the back, where the notoriously scratch-prone back glass has continued to pick up abrasions. That's an inevitable result of having this glass section flush with the back of the phone. (And also, I suppose, an argument in favor of camera bumps, which prop up the back of a phone.

There's also a small section where the anodized paint job has worn away a little on the top left corner. And a tiny hairline scratch on the front glass, above the display. No idea how either of those happened — I've babied this phone as much as any during its first month in service.

None of these small nicks and scratches are really visible unless you go looking for them. In photos, they're almost impossible to spot. It's very minor cosmetic damage. Nevertheless, it's there, and it seems to have accumulated quicker than a lot of other phones I've used this year.

As for the design itself, the common criticism that the Pixel looks dull or uninspired is understandable. Especially in black, it's pretty generic looking. And buyers outside the U.S. don't yet have the option to buy the more eye-catching "Really Blue" version.

Performance and software

The Pixel was blazing fast a month ago, and so it remains today, even with 70 apps currently installed. I've manually updated to the newer firmware version that hit Canadian Pixels recently, giving me the helpful option to have the display wake after I pick it up. It's a small addition, but it makes a huge difference. I've ended up turning off double-tap-to-wake, which right now seems way too sensitive to unintentional touches when the screen is switched off.

Google's phones take a step beyond stock Android this year, and for the most part I've become used to the quirks of the way the Pixel's UI handles. To begin with, I found Google's (bizarrely inconsistent) move towards circular app icons jarring. That's still kind of the case — everyday apps like the camera, Gmail and Google Calendar look bad — a tiny app icon in an enormous circular frame. But slowly things are improving, as third-party apps like Twitter and Uber add decent-looking circular icons. Maybe Google's vision of this new, circular future for apps will become clearer in the year ahead.

I'm still in love with the 'Aurora' live wallpaper.

The Pixel has a bunch of Google-specific software features besides rounded icons, of course. And weirdly, the thing I've enjoyed using the most on a daily basis has been the Aurora live wallpaper. Google's phones have no shortage of impressive home screen backdrops, but the way Aurora dynamically changes based on weather, location and time of day, makes it truly live. Depending on when you use the phone, you can end up with some pretty wild combinations of colors.

There's a great article on Google's design site covering this wallpaper and many other aspects of the Pixels' audiovisual design. For instance, did you know Aurora's gradients were designed to line up exactly with the glass on the rear of the phone?

I've also come to enjoy the convenience of Android Pay, as my bank finally got onboard with the service in the past couple of months — and I've been using it the most on the Pixel XL. The service exists separately to the Pixel, of course, but the phone's hardware still plays a part. It's useful to reliably be able to tap the top corner of the phone to pay, just like the iPhone. No monkeying around trying to find where the NFC antenna begins and ends.

At the other end of the spectrum I've all but completely stopped using Google Assistant. I'm not big on voice interaction with gadgets anyway, and Assistant remains a version 1.0 product with some unfortunate consistency issues.

Storage anxiety

At this point I'm just going to say it: If you're at all on the fence, just get the 128GB Pixel. You won't regret it in the long run. An extra $100 upfront will save you the hassle of juggling photos off into the cloud, and clearing out app caches periodically. When you're paying this much for a phone to begin with, it makes total sense to stump up a little extra and turn storage into a non-issue.

By keeping things relatively light, and offloading photos when I can, I'm usually a little over half-full on this 32GB Pixel XL.

But if you go with a 32GB Pixel, you will eventually run out of space, and have to use the "clear up space" feature to offload your photos to Google's cloud. Then you'll be searching for apps to uninstall, media to clear out, music to purge. It's an issue I've run into while traveling this past month. The same has happened to our own Florence Ion, currently traveling in New Zealand, and The Verge'sVlad Savov, traveling in the Netherlands.

Updated camera impressions

My impressions of the Pixel's camera really haven't changed since our review. It's one of the best phone cameras out there, relying on Google excellent HDR+ processing to match the likes of the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7 in daylight pics, and occasionally blow them away in full auto when shooting in the dark.

I've yet to find the infamous lens flare issue a huge problem. It's something which sometimes happens, but the light needs to hit the phone's lens at a very specific angle in order for it to mess up a shot. I'm missing the lack of any manual shooting modes just a bit, but given the fact that the phone leans so much on HDR+, which takes multiple exposures and relies on computation to stitch them together, it's understandable. (Seriously, you don't want to turn HDR+ off completely. Low-light photos will look horrible if you do.)

Enough words — here are some pretty pictures taken by the Pixel XL. All are unprocessed, pulled straight from the phone. (You'll find more in my Pixel XL travel piece from a few weeks back.)

Still one of the best — but pricey

Little has changed in the past six weeks or so — the Pixel is every bit as good today as it was when I first began using it in mid-October. Google may still be finding its groove when it comes to iconography, but the rest of the Pixel's software experience is fast, and a joy to use. Welcome touches like the Aurora live wallpaper give the phone that extra bit of polish.

Surprise! The Pixel XL is still great.

Google has nailed every part of the core experience — the Pixel XL is, for me, just about the right size. (I couldn't imagine going back to something as small as the regular 5-inch Pixel.) Its camera is among the best I've used on any phone, and arguably the best overall in some situations. Meanwhile, battery life and day-to-day performance go toe-to-toe with what the competition can offer — though I'm still not quite confident enough that I'll get two days per charge.

But do yourself a favor and buy the 128GB model. You'll thank me when you don't have to delete all your stuff.

Reader comments

Google Pixel XL: One month later

So funny to read the excitement of those readers that got the Black Pixel 128 gb, it is mediocre in every way, and overpriced. I could hear the marketing coming out of the sheeps' giddy anticipation of getting an average cell phone.

WOO HOO! MY Pixel XL in black w/128Gb has shipped, along with an OtterBox defender case, and an extra charger.

Found it in the Google store Tuesday the 29th and ordered it, with shipment on the 30th (today), paid $20.00 for expedited shipping, and it will be in hand tomorrow(Dec.1st).

Verizon will also issue multiple sim cards for a single line. You toggle between them in your account settings under device overview to choose which device you want to be active at any given time. My secondary sim and a couple of additional cases arrive Friday.Merry early Christmas for me.

I don't get the hype of this phone. I purchased one last week to perhaps replace my iPhone 7 Plus, and I couldn't do it. Sure, the software was amazing, but the hardware was lacking. The lens flaring was terrible. There is no water resistance. It looks like an iPhone. The compromises were just too much. I kept my iPhone 7 Plus and I'm glad I did.

Why would a person that spent $1,000 on an Iphone 7+ in the last 3 months go and buy a Pixel XL? You knew what it looked like before buying it. You knew it wasn't waterproof before you bought it. How is the hardware lacking?

People are fallen by for the hype. I had the Pixel for two days and I couldn't stand it. I don't know why people are so forgiving with the phone. For the price, the S7 or S7 edge would be better choices b cause they have more features. The Pixel just had too many compromises.

Really now, the best phone. I believe that would have gone to the Note 7, and since nobody wants an exploding phone I would still prefer the Note 5. But me thinks you guys need to drive those new handset sales numbers so...

All in all take away assistant (which could be in any recent phone with a software update) and the phone isn't worth more than $450 new.

I believe having a blanket statement of the priv can do everything the pixel can do is totally misinformed. When will the priv have the latest updates? Camera wise how well does the camera take low light photos? As far as I remember there's no fingerprint scanner on the priv.
Those are just a few of the differences that comes to mind when comparing the 2 devices. Not to mention how much longer can blackberry struggle in a market that's left them eat behind.

Has the world stark raving nuts? People are spending $1000 for a phone. For $1000 I can buy a 15" laptop computer with the latest and greatest INTEL processor. Tell me one thing that a Google Pixel can do that my Blackberry PRIV cannot do. Don't tell me that it "runs faster" when we are talking about a few seconds if not less.

Camera? Unless you blow up a photo to a huge size, the eye cannot tell the difference between 16 pixel and a 21 pixel photo on a 5" phone screen.

Also, I expect that the Pixel only costs around $250 to make and people are happy to pay $1000 (Canadian). Amazing.

Correction, you cannot get a laptop with the greatest Intel processor in it for $1000, because the greatest Intel processor isn't a mobile sku. Secondly, people don't just consume photos on their phone screens, they often make prints, sometimes on large canvas, where this matters. There have been professional reviewers in everything from video and camera experts all the way down to audiophiles, when people are raving about this device consistently across the board, its pretty impressive for a device that you can slide into a pocket.

"Tell me one thing that a Google Pixel can do that my Blackberry PRIV cannot do."
"Don't tell me that it "runs faster" when we are talking about a few seconds if not less."
"Camera? Unless you blow up a photo to a huge size, the eye cannot tell the difference between 16 pixel and a 21 pixel photo on a 5" phone screen."

I'm confused. Did you want people to list things that the pixel is better at than the Priv or? Because you went on to do exactly that, then asked people not to include those things. So .... ummm :: insert fry meme :: Not sure if being serious or baiting for online argument

Assistant was the next big Google thing, and the excuse that Google trotted out for the phone being priced the same as other flagships. Remember being told that we would remember the day that Android changed?

Yeah, not so much. Google overhyped Assistant, Pixel, and the price. This is nothing more than a pretentious, overpriced Nexus.

Love my Black Pixel XL 128Gb . When I ordered the XL I also ordered the iPhone 7plus since my whole family are Apple lovers. Tried the 7plus for a weekend and shipped it back. Pixel arrived a few days later and can say its the best phone i have ever used. At $339 CDN (carrier threw me a few extra credits) on a 2 year plan its totally affordable.

I just placed my order for a Pixel XL, 128Gb in quiet black on the Google store, it will be here by Dec. 1st with expedited shipping.

I couldn't believe my luck with the availability and shipping date of November 30th. Merry early Christmas to me. The Google store also has an extended return period for the Pixels of Jan. 9th during the holiday time frame, and an even longer return window for other items.

I'm a Verizon customer, but they have increased their shipping dates all the way to Jan. 13th now, for the Pixel XL w/128gb.

I really want the pixel but I recently got a free 6p with a 128g from a friend who upgraded to the pixel xl. The price point and lack of payment installment via T-Mobile or att makes its hard for me to purchase it otherwise I would. My friend has the phone and I think it's a beast of a machine and I actually like the design (I would put a case on it anyway so why does it matter if it looks boring)

But SammyFans can't stop circle jerking when they talk nice about your phones...if you don't like the phone, then crawl back into your safe space and curl up with a warm fuzzy blanket. You're like a bunch of little kids that have to keep talking until someone validates your opinion. Go start another thread about how awesome the S8 will be. It will be plain, black, have an SD card slot, and water resistant. All will be right with the world again...

The problem is imo , that in some areas its actually a down grade , price is a huge down grade , speakers after the 6p the same , and google could have very easily thrown in a few more convenience features to add a bit of value ..... alas .

Switched from an S7E which IMHO was a beautiful, excellent phone with the best camera available at it's introduction, but I like my Pixel XL better. Aesthetically, the S7E is better looking than my XL, but a phone is like a mate, if all they have going for them is looks, you had best move on. The edge feature was useful for a couple of months, and then pretty much went by the wayside.

The two features I was really afraid I was going to miss were wireless charging and water resistance. The battery life on my XL is such that I really don't need wireless charging and haven't missed it at all. I have had the phone from day one, and the times I have had to hook it to a charger to get through the day wouldn't use up all the fingers of one hand. I love the lack of bloatware, the speed and responsiveness of the UI

Did the high price bother me? Nope, my S7E cost as much day one. iPhone 7 Costs as much day one. Pixel is a quality device that I rely on to get my work done and is much cheaper than other things in my life that aren't nearly as important. If you can't afford it, don't buy it. If you don't think it is worth the money, don't buy it. If you like another phone better, buy that one. For me the Pixel XL is well worth the money that I spent. YMMV

After two failed excursions with the Note 7 I went with a 7Edge and very soon after ordered the Pixel XL 128GB. Can't really compare them per se as I haven't had much time to tinker with the XL but I will say this -- the 7Edge is a really nice-looking phone and not terrible battery-wise. Love the wireless charging but don't have an issue plugging a phone into a cable to charge it. As for waterproofness, I don't worry much because I rarely toss my phone into lakes, toilets or puddles.

As for battery life, everyone seems to be positive as to the Pixel's battery life and its responsiveness. I just am not a fan of the Edge. It's all subjective so no reason to try and change anyone's minds -- mine or anyone else's -- but I will say that I'd have preferred sticking with the Note 7 and wish that phone didn't explode like it did (literally and/or figuratively).

If the XL winds up being a dud -- which is possible, after all -- not sure what I'll end up doing. Maybe just returning it and going back to the Note 4 which worked reasonably well before I started this revolving door of phones. But I expect the XL will solve my problem and keep me busy for the next 24 or so months...hopefully.

I see the usual three or four have shown up again spewing their dislike. Give it a rest, you weren't going to purchase no matter what. Hey, if commenting on every Pixel story with disdain makes you happy, knock yourself out.

Plain design, no option for sd card and unreasonable price. It is in no way the best phone out there and it is only for those pursuing stock android and no one else. This whole pixel promotion really make me lose confidence for this site

Well, seems like we have mixed feelings here. Ones that are able to own up to the fact that they overpaid, and ones that are embarrassed to . Its a good phone for around $400.00. That's it. Wait till the S8 comes out. Thats going to be the fadtest, most powerful smartphone ever. And it'll have VIV. on it.

Personally, I would rather have the OnPlus 3T than the Pixel. The price is more in line with what I want to spend and it has all the features I need. I'm just not willing to wait for 3-4 weeks for the 128 GB model. So, I'm putting off buying a new phone until 2017. I'm still limping along on my Note 2 from 2012.

Maybe not $400, but it would be decent at $499 and $550 for the 128GB. Google is trying to make more money from the hardware side of it, as if they don't make enough from monetizing everything about your life.

Pixel is way overrated. Just like how apple sites praise apple and hardly talk about anything negative in fear of losing marketing dollars.
It is exactly the same with Google now.
What most reviewers loved about the pixel is it's speed and clean simple pixel launcher.
What they don't realize is that 7.0 nougat brings other phones up to pixel speed. Add the pixel launcher and you have a pixel phone with even more features.

As someone who used nougat on 6P for quite a while and now has a pixel that is not even remotely true. 7.0 is not noticeably more responsive than 6.0.

And there is a lot of value in a phone that brings the responsiveness and support of an iPhone to the customizable environment of android considering no other android phone does that. It's not everyone's cup of tea and definitely had notable weak points but to call it overrated is ignorant

6P was pretty much as optimized as possible on marshmallow with the snapdragon 810. For some reason it regressed somewhat when they put the 6p on nougat. Like they did it on purpose and once again made the 810 an issue.

I doubt it! When in history has a device with a skin on it perform as fast as pure Android. Especially TouchWiz? My Pixel 5" out performs my Note 5, S7edge and my girlfriends Htc 10. Maybe the Exynos version but not the snapdragon 820. The Htc 10 is smoother than the S7 edge. What's happens when all the apps are optimized for 7.1? The Pixel will be faster than it is now.

To all who say the PIXEL is over priced need to realise that all flagships are over priced. Apple, Samsung, Htc, Moto and so on. The average consumer gets their phone on contract anyway so it costs no more than what people have been paying. I'm happy with my purchase. I had the money at the time so I got the phone I wanted. Walked in Verizon and walked out with my 128gb Pixel 5" that I've had for a few weeks with no lag or force closes.

I get service in places that I haven't gotten on any Htc, Moto, Samsung or Apple phone. I been averaging about 5 hours SOT. My only complaint is about the speaker quality and placement but it wasn't enough to keep me from buying the phone.

Had my Pixel for nearly a month now too. It's decent but I'm not very impressed with the camera and audio is very poor, including speakers and through the microphone.
I really want the LG V20 but where's the best place to buy if you're a UK resident?

I wanted to order a Pixel 128gb xl but Google devices site is not taking orders. Decided to go with a new Galaxy S7 Edge on Swappa for $499. I would liked to have had the Pixel on the financing plan but in the end, I am saving a few hundred bucks on the S7 Edge. It's got 32GB of memory but I have the 256GB Samsung card from when my Note 7 was recalled. The reviews should take into account the current market prices for the phones they are referencing

Enjoying my xl, 128GB as well. I thought I might return it when I first got it, and still may but it has grown on me. Also it seems google gave some extra time to return it. The website says I have until Dec 13 to return and I received it on 11/17.

I thought the camera flare would be worse but it has not been the issue I thought it would. Still do not know if it is not better all around than my S7 edge but it sure is smoother no question about that. I like Samsung pay much better.

Have a bit longer to decide. Also can't wait for the defenders of the 32GB to get here. I know google should have offered the 64GB but do yourself a favor and get the 128GB!

The real story: One month later and still no one owns one of these things if they didn't get it on day one of the pre-order or got a demo unit for a blog. The simple fact is that Google ALWAYS blows it when it comes to anticipating stock and are even worse when it comes to communicating to the very people they want to sell to. This has been their consistent downfall since the N1.

Morgan Stanley says they may sell 3 million pixels in 2016 and 5-6 million next year. There is no reason for the large problems with stock. other modes sell that many in months or even a weekend. Is google intentionally limiting stock of the pixels?

People are buying them all up and reselling them on line at a profit. Thats where I feel the problem lies honestly.
Aside from that, the exclusive rights with Verizon isn't helping get it into the hands of non Verizon users either since devices will be sent to them rather then put up for sale thru Google.

I ordered on the 15th and got it mid November. My mother ordered a few days after I got mine and got hers a week later. My brother ordered his a few days after that and got his less than a week later. . It sure what your trouble is if you in fact ordered one.

A month later and I am still waiting on Verizon to deliver mine, they said no later than December 9th and at this rate it will be December and not a day earlier. Tired of waiting, meanwhile i see TV ads for the Samsung Galaxy plus free VR headset and i am starting to wonder if i made the right decision with the Pixel XL128

Those photos are simply amazing! I have an iPhone 7 Plus as well as a Pixel, and I honestly think my Pixel takes a better picture. SURE its close and in a pinch I'm happy to snap with either, BUT picture for picture, pound for pound, etc the Pixel is just a hair better IMHO.

I have both and agreed. Slight edge to the Pixel in sharpness and color.

However, I did several side by side test shots this weekend between the Pixel and 7 Plus. There was noticeable lens flare on several of the Pixel photos. These were taken the same way, out of the pocket, HDR and autofocus. Probably going to stick with the 7+ for now and return the Pixel.

Sure you can. That's the whole point. The phone is on last year's software because it will always be on older software. That's the whole point of the Pixel and a major advantage it has. There is no chance any Galaxy whatever of the same year is going to perform like the Pixel. You actually argued the other side without even knowing you did.

I've been fully submerged in the ocean with a Note7 in my pocket that worked fine afterwards. You can call it "water resistant" or "water proof" or whatever you want -- the point is that most phones would have been toast after 10 minutes completely submerged.

And how many times has that actually made a difference for you? If that's your biggest selling point, then so what? I've had the S7, S7E and a Pixel XL. The S line is OK, but waterproofing doesn't make up the difference in performance the Pixels have over Sammy right now.

The speaker is my only complaint. Performance-wise, going from the 6P to the 5" Pixel has been an enormous upgrade in every sense, except for speaker quality. The 6P's speakers were good enough that I could watch Netflix or Hulu for a significant period of time and not feel like I was missing out on sound quality vs. headphones at all. The Pixel absolutely requires headphones while watching video, or else it drives me crazy.

Yes it's a bit of a disappointment , and I suspect for a lot of these blokes that forked out a big lot of coin on the pixels , down the track there might be a bit of disappointment once the honeymoon period is over , time will tell though.

I've had mine now a little over a month. I keep it in a case. But, truthfully, this phone is way overrated and grossly overpriced. Completely unattractive, it is fast, but not noticeable against my S7 edge or axon 7. It lacks in several key areas. Storage, (I want an sd card slot), environmental protection, lousy sound from both speakers and headphones, waste of space bezels, and the Google assistant doesn't do anything on the pixel as it does on any Android phone. Take all of these into consideration along with cost, and you have a great DISSAPOINTMENT in my opinion. I'll take my S7 edge and axon 7 over the pixel any day.

Unless you really like Samsung phones, get the Pixel over the S7. I've had both and I prefer the Pixel by far. Performance is so much better and the Pixel looks better in person than photos and videos and feels great in the hand. Plus the battery life is superb.

I agree with the unattractive and features aspects. However as far as the Pixel UI responsiveness being on par with the S7 I can't disagree with you more. I've had the S7 Edge for 6 months and all it has done is slow down and give lousy battery life even after I factory restored. The Google Pixel blows it away in the most important areas for me; battery life, camera, and responsiveness. I was lucky enough to take advantage of the Verizon $240 Pixel deal, so at that price it's definitely a GREAT device.

You must be running a bad app or need to clear cache. I bought mine upon release, have 142 apps on it, and its Superfast. Battery life is fantastic. I usually get a whole day with about 20-30% left under heavy use at bedtine.

That's not an excuse. I travel and have approximately 270 third-party apps installed on my phone. I've used Nexus 6P, S7, S7 Edge, Moto X 2015 and they all slow down to molasses over time - not to mention lag like crazy in both the UI and app performance.

The Pixel, I've thrown 350 apps on it and it is still (nearly) as responsive after a month and works like a charm. I can't feel any noticeable battery drain compared to all of the other phones that tanked after a few weeks of use. Whether it's a bad app or not, the Pixel knows how to put them in their place.

Camera: stock camera (everyday), manual camera (every week), cardboard camera for 360 (once a month).
Keyboard: English (everyday), script handwriting (second language - once a week), phonetic & script second language (everyday), keyboard for local dialect (everyday), 3 GIF keyboards (e.g. Giphy, GIF KB) to automatically search and insert them in conversations used once every other day. I think you get the drift. I also travel quite a bit.

Location set to high, Google+ Locations and Maps timeline enabled.

Artem's setup is similar - so that's why I am interested as my experience has mirrored his.

Well the pixel does have the latest software , so it has the older models at a disadvantage , but soon the older models will get 7.0 and it should almost be even Stevens so to speak.
Having said that the pixel is a device that runs with very few features , so it's probably always going to have an edge , except against the one plus 3 .

Nexus 6P has 7.1 and was never as smooth as the Pixel at any point in it's life in my use cases. All your other points are apologetic, wishful and moot. They will not live up to the Pixel because at the end of the day they are not engineered to the same degree at the Pixel.

No I use the same 15 some apps on all my devices, from nexus 5, moto turbo, 6P, note 4, s7 to the pixel and the Samsungs have always have lag issues. Even as I stated previously starting over. I'm getting close to 50% after a days use with the pixel and less than 30% with the s7 in the same environment.

No ****. The s7 is running 6.0 and the pixel is running the 7.1. Im on the beta 3 and im telling this is shaping up to be a killer update. There will be tests when both phones are running 7.0 and i have no doubt the s7 will beat the pixel in responsiveness.

Responsiveness has nothing to do with Android version, sure there are some improvements, but nothing major between versions 6 to 7.1. The issue still remains with the modifications that Samsung does to the OS. Every year Samsung promises that there UI is faster and with less bloat which in my opinion is just marketing. The only thing that helps them is that hardware keeps getting better and better and hides some of the issues for a while. This article proves what I just said: https://www.xda-developers.com/with-the-note-7-samsung-still-delivers-em...

So are you going to sell it or return it? Or are you going to hold on to the disappointment. You want a SD card slot but you purchased anyways? You knew what was lacking and you purchased anyways? Why do I have this feeling you do not own one.

Looks like you didn't do your homework and wasted a bunch of money. Good job.

This is in response to Gaston Garcia regarding audio. Not in my experience as far as audio is concerned. The low light video I was not impressed at all with. I recorded a very loud concert the other night and I was impressed by the sound quality. There was no breakup what so ever, and It seemed better than any phone I've had before. I am not a fan of the mono speaker, but it is pretty good for what it is. Hopefully they will clean that up on the next pixel. See an example with this link which was recorded on my pixel xl, nothing modified. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMK5FHvD-pmiSl5I0EjU2dd95f2FfywfdcQ...

This next example was on my moto x pure.... big difference to my ears. I hear a muffled quality that I don't hear on the pixel, and it seemed like the phone couldn't handle all the instruments together as well as the pixel. All in all still not bad for a phone mic, but I just think the pixel handled the audio better all around. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNlai4QTARF0hHbHwA21l4M5RpqoXgGadYO...

Finally someone on here not praising the overpriced and ugly Pixel. And I'd agree 100% S7 Edge and Axon 7 are much better than the piece of **** and lacking in features Pixel and I used to like stock Android but its boring as hell.

I still have an iPhone though I try out android every so often. Oddly enough it is Siri that keeps me on Apple. I mostly communicate by text and being able to dictate a text and then tell Siri to read it back before sending is great. I have tried with various versions of android over the years but never could get them to read back a text before sending it. Does the new google assistant work like that?

Here is how it usually works. I say "Hey Siri, text Bill, 'When is the meeting?"

Then, before it is sent, I get it read back so that I can either edit or cancel. Usually at this point Siri says, "Your message to Bill says, 'When are we mating?'" Which is why I need her to read it out loud.